Continuing the series of recaps on our trio of NBA Coaching Clinics, we chatted once again with Basketball England’s Delivery Manager Brian Aldred on what jumped out at him from the third day of action. Tuesday evening saw Canada Basketball’s Dawn Smyth and Mike MacKay looking at the “Daily Training Environment” and how this can be applied to your own sessions. New York Knicks assistant Ross McMains covered transition offence on the court whilst fellow assistant Kaleb Canales held an open Q&A session. The evening was finished off by Coach Eric Hughes presenting for his fourth time at our NBA clinics, leading coaches through an informative and energetic session on “Incorporating Player Development into Practice Sessions”.
The session began with a clear message that coaches should be relating better with young players and we can help them by creating images/pictures that players can attach and relate to. This will assist the learning process.
One question that came up was “How do people learn?” A discussion followed on the process of storing and retrieving information and as we repeat the process, it gets quicker. Coach McKay used the example of learning names by “chunking” the information together and then repeatedly storing and retrieving it. I noticed in Sunday’s clinic that Mike had learned the names of the 12 girls from Charnwood within first 10 minutes of the session. He repeated this skill on Monday and Tuesday, learning every player’s name from the demo teams! He then explained how this theory could be incorporated into practice sessions.
A few tips for delivery that stuck out for me:
What does you Daily Training Environment (DTE) look like? Mike and Dawn challenged the coaches in attendance to think about their own DTE. Is it:
Each has their own merits depending on the standard, age and development of your players, but it is certainly something to think about.
One final thing that stuck with me was the point that in 5v5 play, players may not always get the numbers of reps needed to acquire a skill or concept!
New York Knicks Ross McMains began by explained how the Knicks consider the most important concept they work to be how a player reacts once a set has been broken up. e.g. reading the Pick & Roll coverage. He commented that they aim to ‘Stretch a player’s skill sets but not at a cost of other player’s skill sets.’
McMains said the Knicks had three main Transition rules:
C O A C H I N G C L I N I C S 🏀
— Basketball England (@bballengland) January 15, 2019
From @CanBball's Coach MacKay and Coach Smyth to Coach Ross and Coach Caleb from the @nyknicks. They're working on-court as well as in a breakout area to double up on the learning!#NBACoachingClinic#TogetherWeAreBasketbALL pic.twitter.com/tTo65U2G1A
He then displayed a number of transition drills to work on those rules:
3 on 3 touch the baseline
Domino (looking for advantages on offence)
The moment to create a small advantage and turn it into a bigger advantage i.e. bad close out, drive to the basket to force another defender towards you. How do we continue to drive & kick to seek out small domino movements to force bigger ones?
3 players drill
I’ll have some more detailed information on these specific drills once the clinic tape becomes available.
Coach Eric Hughes introduced his session by defining development as, “The process of growing or changing with the goal of becoming more advanced” He further commented that player development is 50% energy, 30% trust and 20% knowledge and innovative thought.
C O A C H I N G C L I N I C S 🏀
— Basketball England (@bballengland) January 15, 2019
We're finishing tonight's clinic with a session from former Raptors, Nets and Bucks coach Eric Hughes. He's covering "How to incorporate player development in practice sessions."#NBACoachingClinic#TogetherWeAreBasketbALL pic.twitter.com/ObHWzkLQQo
Other tips for Coach Hughes included:
Create the correct mentality in the group – Give them something to do all the time even at water breaks / free throws etc. One group can drink, another can work, then they can switch.
Make sure you include video and “chalk n talk” sessions into your player development. All these factors into gaining the trust of the player.
A defence stop doesn’t end until the ball is rebounded.
Trick players into working on other elements of their game in a drill by extending the drill, through loading, distance or space used and/or adding a competition/timing factor. This was something I also enjoyed from Coach MacKay on Sunday, “Hiding the vegetables of the spaghetti sauce!”
Encourage correct spacing on offence and build awareness. “There isn’t a 2.5 shot in basketball if your foot is on the line. Be a step beyond the arc, it creates a 3 or at worst a long closeout!”
If you have any questions on last week’s NBA Clinics, how you can improve as a coach or what further learning opportunities are in the coming months, you can use the button below to contact Brian.
